TITLE:
Impacts of Diesel and Insurance Costs on Owner-Operator Log Truck Drivers in Mississippi, USA
AUTHORS:
Curtis L. Vander Schaaf
KEYWORDS:
Forest Harvesting, Fuel, Log Trailers
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.16 No.3,
July
7,
2026
ABSTRACT: Forest harvesting allows landowners to manage their forests and to receive financial compensation for their capital investment. After felling, skidding, delimbing and often topping, and merchandizing of trees, logs must be loaded onto a truck for the hauling of that raw woody resource to a mill. Mills commonly pay for hauling with a haul rate that is calculated per ton per loaded km ($/ton/loaded km). This analysis is focused on owner-operator truck drivers. These self-employed drivers pay for the truck and trailer and associated insurance, licensing, maintenance, diesel, mandatory training, salary, fringe benefits such as health insurance, retirement, etc. This analysis looks at the impacts of costs per liter of diesel ($0.79, $1.06, $1.32, and $1.59 per liter), different log truck annual insurance rates ($10,000, $15,000, and $22,000), along with basic assumptions about hauling conditions and maintenance costs, and varying haul rates received per load of $0.106, $0.112, $0.118, $0.124, $0.130, and $0.137 dollars per ton per loaded km ($/ton/loaded mile of $0.17 to $0.22 by one cent), on the net annual revenue of an average log truck driver. Here, no costs related to purchasing the truck and trailer were included. For a common rate of $0.124/ton/loaded km ($0.20/ton/loaded mile), and two assumed log truck routes, diesel per liter increases from $0.79 to $1.06, $1.32, and $1.59 reduced net annual revenues by up to 14.9, 29.7, and 44.6%, respectively, in all cases the greatest reductions were seen when annual insurance costs were $22,000. We all should be extremely concerned about adequate salaries to log truck drivers; without these drivers, forest management options become minimal.